Berry College will retain LMS course data seven (7) years from the end of the academic year a course is taught. This ensures that the retention of all course materials is consistent with the current policy noting that a student may not use a catalog more than seven years old. Removal of courses will begin fall 2015 and will remove all courses and material prior to the fall of 2008 (Academic term 2007 20). After the initial deletion, at the beginning of each academic year, an email will be sent to current instructors reminding them that courses older than 7 years will be deleted.
Deleting a course permanently removes it from the LMS so that it is no longer accessible. When a course is deleted, it is removed from past courses for both instructors and students and the instructor and students can no longer access the course. All course data, defined in section IV, in the course is deleted.
Instructors are responsible for backing up their own course materials at the end of each term. Retaining copies of the syllabus, electronic grade book and electronic student work is the sole responsibility of the instructor. A file cabinet is available to each instructor within the college’s LMS and materials stored in the electronic file cabinet are not deleted according to this policy. Berry College will not backup any course prior to deletion. Since students have one semester to contest a grade and since a catalog more than seven years old may not be used to complete a degree, faculty do not need to keep individual grade records for their courses longer than seven years.
Final grades are maintained in perpetuity by the college registrar.
APPROVAL AND REVIEW
This policy is periodically reviewed by Information Technology staff and the Information Technology Committee. Recommendations for changes or additions to this policy will be referred to academic council. Information technology resources and systems are changing rapidly and the college reserves the right to amend this policy at any time.